Published authors and percentage income

Teresa Edgerton said:
I'd have to dig up my old contracts, but I think the royalty on ebooks is a little higher. The ebooks of the books I wrote for HarperCollin sell such a small percentage of the royalties I make from the trade paperbacks, I don't pay much attention to them.

I'm selling many times the number of ebook editions with Goblin Moon, and more every month, which is gratifying. More than I thought I would sell when I first had the idea to self publish the book. Since it was a reprint, I didn't expect much. The demise of chain bookstores in the US may have something to do with the numbers for the Kindle edition. But I've had stellar reviews — from established writers and from readers on amazon — so undoubtedly that helps a lot.
Click to expand...

How many sales in your best month, (apologies, but your not surprised I asked are you?)
 
Anne Lyle said:
Exact figures - I have a contract, you know ;)

Let's just say it's more than twice the percentage on all other formats, and if you buy direct from Angry Robot, the retailers don't take half the cover price - so that makes a big, big difference!

(N.B. the higher percentage on ebooks is pretty standard - it's not something extra-specially fluffy that AR are doing.)
Click to expand...

No disrespect Anne but why is it published authors never discuss their advances or their commission.

Are you all doing a Del Boy - "No income tax, no vat, no money back or guarantee..."

Or is it so embarrassingly small you leave it hidden under a cloak of mystery. I know its private but if your in the public domain, earn from the public, I think it's fair for someone to ask.

If I was getting 50 or a 100k I would tell!:)
 
It's not very British to talk about money, is it? Do I ask what your salary is? And no, I'm not in the public domain. I have a right to a private life, and that includes my income.

50 or 100k - that would be a fine thing indeed. The average advance for a new SFF author is nearer 5k per book. I am very average :(
 
I'm only asking because this thread is about money. Feel free to ask me anything about my income. It's not a secret.

Not very British? We've just seen the Chairman of the Royal Bank have his salary pulled through the news and disected.

And you being average, I would doubt that:)
 
Gary Compton said:
How many sales in your best month, (apologies, but your not surprised I asked are you?)
Click to expand...

Sorry, Gary. I'm too "old school" to give you the numbers. I was taught that it's unprofessional and a little vulgar. There may be new rules for self-published writers and perhaps they can do that sort of thing without reproach, I don't know, but I'm not about to change.

You can make of that whatever you will.

Besides, I think the only useful information is that my amazon numbers are much higher now than they were before, print and ebook combined. Of course I don't have all those bookstore sales, which were very nice. But times are changing. That's the point.
 
Ok no probs. I understand but I'm glad its going well:)

Happy writing.

PS: Just slap me when I get too nosy!:eek:
 
Most of the rights are with me, and in the case of one of that isn't, I am sure it is just a question of asking.

And yes, I do have plans to publish the sequel to GM by this summer, and some of the others soon after. I hope. It seems to me that things always take longer than I think I will.
 
Oh, I think I'm done with deadlines. I'm very bad at keeping them, which has made my publishers justifiably unhappy with me.

If I were to write anything with the idea of sending it out to publishers, I would do it on spec so I could sell them a finished one-off book or a completed series. I think everyone would be happier that way.

But for now, I'm going to go with self-publishing. If the reprints are successful, I will stick in a new book every now and then.
 
Fair enough. I think I might find the deadlines quite crushing, too. I've got ideas for two books I want to send to agents and publishers, but, like you said, I think I would want them to both to be near-perfect before offering them.

It takes me about two years to write a book. Granted my latest to stupidly long, but still...
 
Publishers do prefer books no longer than a year apart, so if it takes you two years to write a book, it would probably be better to have something finished and something half done.

Since my life went all to pieces, I would be glad to write a book every two years. I have one I've been working on for a long time that I hope to finish this spring. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, the backlist should allow me to publish books at a steady rate.
 
At risk of a slap, there were 4 years between a certain favourite author of mine's first two (of a trilogy) books. For any book, I'd rather wait and see the author get it right, than see them rush it out and it's wrong... sometimes the publisher should take the blame for confusing art with business.:eek:;)
 
What publishers want to know before they will sign you up (another book is in the works) and what they are willing to put up with after there is a contract in place (it takes much longer to finish that second book than anticipated) are two different things.

When the first book is as popular as The Name of the Wind, I am sure their patience stretches even further.
 
Boneman said:
For any book, I'd rather wait and see the author get it right, than see them rush it out and it's wrong...
Click to expand...

yes, exactly! i've read some stuff w/ self-publishing, about how you should crank out four novels per year, or something like that, in order to ramp up sales. sure, if you could produce quality at that speed, then go for it. but if not, then what are you to do?

personally, i'd like to produce a novel every 1-2yrs, or thereabouts, maybe even longer. i'm not a slow writer per se, but i'm planning on putting in a Lot of effort into future books (researching researching researching, editing countless drafts, etc.) if i have to move back in w/ the parents and teeter on the brink of starvation because no one's buying my books since they can't wait over a yr, then so be it. =(
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
What publishers want to know before they will sign you up (another book is in the works) and what they are willing to put up with after there is a contract in place (it takes much longer to finish that second book than anticipated) are two different things.

When the first book is as popular as The Name of the Wind, I am sure their patience stretches even further.
Click to expand...

Exactly! You need to have at least one book finished and polished to the best of your ability, because frankly anyone can start a book - finishing it's another matter.

Personally I like deadlines, as I'm basically rather lazy! I took four years to write my first novel, but most of that was the learning process rather than the physical act of writing. I just spent nine months doing what previously took me most of those four years, and am about to embark on replicating that feat :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
D Can publisher edit books that are already published, without the authors permission? Publishing 9
chongjasmine Where to find newly published authors? Book Discussion 7
Brian G Turner What published authors get as advances Publishing 3
Martin Gill Published authors don’t follow the “rules” Writing Discussion 32
A Do agents prefer stand-alone novels from unpublished authors or is it worth submitting a trilogy? Publishing 16

Similar threads


Back
Top